Whelping Puppies: C-section Pictures

Sassy the Mastiff had a textbook, planned Cesarean. As soon as her temperature dropped Thursday night and she was in labor we took her to the vet first thing Friday morning for the procedure. Mastiffs are known to lose 30-50% of their pups when whelping a litter of puppies. All puppies deserve to live, so we did the Cesarean for $2000. An emergency C-section performed after problems start would cost more and be more stressful on the dam, and usually a cesarean is decided after a couple pups are already lost.

Sassy is such a mellow girl, taking all the human contact in stride.

IV is in her front leg. Sassy getting prepped for surgery.

Tummy prep

Sassy is put under then a final prep is done.

She is moved to the operating room.

She is cut open, and you can see a puppy in a horn. The horn is pulled out of the uterus.

Puppy #1, big Red boy, came out SCREAMING, very good.

The cord is clamped and cut.

Puppy #2, Yellow girl

Pup #3, Pink girl

Pup #4 breaking sac, Green boy

Breaking the sac off the face

Pup #5, Blue boy

Sewing Sassy back up

All done. Time to wake her up.

Keeping her warm

Cleaning her up

Saying, "Good Morning, good to have you back Sassy."

Receiving a shot of oxytocin to help her milk come in.

Checking to see if all pups will latch on and helping the pups nurse for the first time.

Home and all pups are nursing.

Sassy's puppies are here. They were all very big. Five pups: 3 boys and 2 girls, 1.5 to 2lbs each.

Making sure each puppys’ plumbing works by stimulating them to go potty.

All pups are peeing and pooping just fine.

Weighing the pups

All pups are thriving and doing well. Sassy the Mastiff is recovering from her C-section.

Sassy is licking her puppies to help them go to the bathroom. Something that must be done, if not by the dam, then by the humans.

She is eating well...

And in very good spirits.

The next day all the pups have lost some weight as Sassy's milk is not yet in. This stage is nerve-racking, as you MUST let them nurse and suck till they are exhausted and hear them cry. If you do not do this and you start supplementing then the milk will not come in. You have to keep close tabs, so they don't get too weak and unable to aggressively suck to bring the milk in. So at 10 p.m. I topped them off with a little puppy milk supplement, and then hope for four hours of sleep. This will give them a boost, pick-up, so they can aggressively suck again.

There is so much more to breeding than many think. This is the stage where some people lose puppies from fading puppy syndrome, but this too is avoidable. A good scale is VERY important. You cannot let them dehydrate or get too weak.

Although this section is based on a whelping of an English Mastiff, it also contains good general whelping information on large-breed dogs. You can find more whelping information in the links above. The links below tell the story of Sassy, an English Mastiff. Sassy has a wonderful temperament. She loves humans and adores children. An all-around mild mannered, wonderful Mastiff, Sassy, however, is not the best mother toward her puppies. She is not rejecting them; she will nurse them when a human places them on her to feed, however she will not clean the pups or pay any attention to them. It is as if they are not her puppies. This litter is getting mom’s milk with major human interaction, manually giving each and every pup what they need. In return, the pups will be super socialized and will make remarkable pets, however the work involved is astounding. It takes one dedicated breeder to keep this situation healthy. Thankfully this litter has just that. Read the links below to get the full story. The pages within include a wealth of information that everyone can appreciate and benefit from.